Finding Time 04

She linked arms again as we walked on to the little café. We both had the ham salad and took one of the side tables. Halfway through eating my phone rang. It was still a bit of a novelty, usually only my folks called. Another annoyance of my rising profile.

"Hello?"

"Professor, this is June in reception. I've got two gentlemen here who say they need to talk to you urgently," a female voice said.

"Ah, I'm off campus at the moment and I will be for the rest of the afternoon," I replied. "Ask them what it's about."

I heard her faint voice as she asked but the reply was inaudible.

"He says it's personal and private," she answered.

"Tell them I'll see them first thing Monday morning," I replied.

"Yes sir," she said.

I brought the phone down and immediately pulled the back off to extract the battery.

"What?" Sally asked.

"I think the security services are paying a visit to the Science building," I replied.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, looking a little alarmed.

"It's alright; I've put them off till Monday morning, though that won't stop them if they're looking for me."

"You can stay in the dorm," even as she said it, she realised, "No," she corrected herself with a self-depreciating chuckle, "Not a good idea."

"It might be if there's a spare bedroom," I said. "It'll be better if I act normally and sleep in the bedsit tonight. You can join me or use your own room."

"Of course I'm staying with you tonight," she replied hotly.

"I knew you would," I replied with a chuckle. "The next thing is to get the Tunnel out and set up in a safe place. I want to track the two of them, see where they go, who they talk to."

"How are you going to do that?" she asked.

"The how's quite easy, it's the where that's the puzzle. There are the student labs in the basement," I mused. "Do you think they'd search the building...? No, we should be safe enough there."

"What's the how?" she asked.

"The fire escape, it leads up to the roof. The door there is always open from people having a smoke." I answered.

"That's too easy."

"Mm," I acknowledged. "But it would be difficult getting things out that way."

She laughed and reached out across the table to take my hand. "Then I'm glad we don't have to."

"I know." I acknowledged. "We'll give them half an hour to clear the campus and then sneak in."

"Okay," she agreed, drawing her hand back to continue eating.

We dawdled over the coffee until the half hour was up and then used one of the side exits to walk around via the accommodation blocks and the sports field, to the back of the science block.

I let her go first, admiring the view of her arse as I climbed behind her. At the top, I led her to the door and the stairs down. I let her scout out the corridor and lab while I waited in the stairwell then joined her when she returned with the 'all clear'.

We moved it all down to one of the empty labs and set it up, changing out the sonar for the camera before we booted it up. We skipped back in time until we found them and then tracked them as they left.

As they walked out, one of them pulled his mobile out. I zoomed in and read the name and number as he dialled.

"I'll run through that again," I said, pausing the program. "Get your phone out and enter the name and number."

"Yes," Sally answered, already rummaging through her bag.

I reset the time back a minute. "Ready," she announced.

"I'll take the name; you concentrate on punching the number in." I said as I restated the tracking.

'Rob.ert' was the name.

"Got it," she said relieved as he started talking.

"Put me through to GS1," he said flatly.

"What was the name?" Sally asked.

"Capital R, o, b, dot, e, r, t," I answered, staying focused on the screen.

"Four four nine two," he stated as he started walking again.

"I got it," said Sally.

"Good girl," I answered.

"Gregory, he's a no show. The receptionist says he's off campus and won't be back. What do you want us to do?"

He stopped again to listen to the reply. "Okay."

"What?" asked his taller companion.

"We keep OBS on his place. They'll triangulate on his phone and put his number plate on the ANPR system."

"Let's grab something to eat on the way there," the tall one said.

"You can drive then; pick a mini-mart on the way." The first replied.

I drew back slightly as they got into their car, hovering above them as they drove off.

"Just as well you switched your phone off," Sally commented.

"Yes," I agreed, still concentrating on the screen. "Trouble is, if they look through the back records they'll see our trip to the Red Cross."

"I don't think that matters much now," she replied. "Do you think I should switch mine off as well?"

"It's a bit late for that but it probably wouldn't hurt, I doubt if you've got a signal down here anyway."

"All right," she answered.

They pulled into a pizza place and I stayed with the one in the car while the tall one went in and ordered. A few minutes later, he came out with two boxes and handed them to the other as he climbed in.

They parked up about a hundred yards past my place, making a U-turn to sit facing it on the opposite side of the road. I paused the program as they started to eat the pizzas and turned to face Sally.

"Well, what do we do now?" I asked almost rhetorically.

"Trace the number he dialled?" she suggested.

"I don't want to connect the computer to the internet. We could go and use one of the ones in the student's common room," I replied.

"Later, we should check on that lab in GCHQ. Find out where the agent went after he left the scientist."

"Hmm, we could do that, see who he reports to."

"Good, I'll let you do that while I nip to the toilet," she said.

"Okay," I replied as she stood.

I checked the co-ordinates and typed them in. I had to back up a bit to find when they split, and then track the other fellow to his office.

"Everything go alright Jim?" his colleague in the office asked as he walked in.

"Yes, Brian was as excited as hell, you'd think he'd found the Holy Grail," he replied as he walked over to his desk.

"Ah, those boffins are in a world of their own."

"I could see he was dying to tell me more about it, how 'It will revolutionize spying'." Jim continued. "I got an idea that it was some sort of wormhole, you could look through space with it."

His companion chuckled. "Seeing through walls is what we need."

"Anything interesting come up at the briefing?"

"No, Charles ran through the Chandler case. You're with Graham this afternoon, something to do with the Ginger Biscuit op."

"Thanks. If that's the case, I'm off for an early lunch." Jim replied.

"Okay."

As Jim walked out, I moved the camera over to take a closer look at the folder lying open on the other guy's desk. There was an A5 picture pinned inside the front cover and his details on the adjacent page.

I had a quick look at the rest of the documents. One was addressed to Walter, his name I presumed. I noted that his extension number was four digits, 3128. Interesting as it all was, there wasn't much useful information.

I paused the program. "We need to find the bosses office," I said as I turned to Sally.

"A needle in a haystack," she snorted. "There must be hundreds of offices to choose from."

"I'll bet we'll find most on the top floor or in corner offices," I commented. "What I was thinking was going back to yesterday and see who briefed Jim. Then we could follow him back and perhaps get a look at the folder about us when he reads it."

"That's going to take a while. I'll go and get us some coffee while you get started."

"Oh yes, please," I answered. "I'm parched."

While she strolled off, I reset the temporal co-ordinates, jumping back to seven forty five the previous morning. I wasn't sure if they'd go to the office first or after so I positioned the camera in the foyer to watch for them among the workers as they streamed past the checkpoint.

Sally had re-joined me with the coffee by the time Jim made it through the gate. We tracked him to a staff room where he joined several others including Walter. He made himself a cup of tea and sat down in one of the easy chairs.

"Morning," said a middle-aged woman, bringing a hush to the room.

She clasped a bunch of folders under one arm with a cup in the other hand. Putting them down on the coffee table, she sat and looked around the group.

"Graham," she said, looking over at one individual as she picked up the top folder. "You're on the Harding case."

He got up and collected the folder from her.

"Charles, you've got the Chandler case. I want a report tomorrow."

I waited for Jim to be called, he was handed a folder titled Rich Tea. When he got back to his office, I eagerly hovered over his shoulder as he opened it. It was an order to bug an office and a house. I gave a soft groan of disappointment.

"He must get transferred to your case later," she commiserated.

"Yes, we're probably better going back and tracking his boss, see what she gets up to," I replied, pausing it.

"Can I have a turn," she asked.

"Yes of course, I could do with stretching my legs." I replied, standing.

As I moved out she took my seat, I picked up my cup and sipped it as I took a step or two then stood behind her to watch.

She skipped back and followed the woman back to her office. Sally manoeuvred behind her as she signed back into her computer. I wished again I had brought my laptop, or even a pencil and paper.

She opened a list of cases and entered in the details of the assignments she just made then sat back and relaxed for a while. Sally jumped forward in five-minute increments, spending a few seconds catching up with what was happening after each hop.

We skipped following her on her breaks and our patience was rewarded just after lunch when someone dropped an envelope off. Inside was a file titled Purple Haze and it was a request for an agent to accompany a scientist on an enquiry.

It had an originating office and the name of the officer authorizing the investigation. I reached over Sally's shoulder and paused the program. "I'm going to nip up to the lab and get my laptop, we need to start writing all this down," I said, as she turned to me.

"Do you want me to go?" she asked.

"Thanks, yes if you would, I'm more spottable than you are."

She got up and gave me a brief kiss before she walked over to the door. With the screen frozen, I was at a loose end and had a stroll around the room while I mulled over what we had found out so far.

We had a name, a department address, and his extension number. If we traced the messenger back, we might be able to put a face to the name. From him we might even be able to trace the plant in the University.

Sally traipsed back in with a notepad and my laptop. "I've brought it and some paper, if you're worried about connecting to the internet it might be better not to put the information on the laptop in case that's bugged."

"Ah, I was going to save it to the usb stick, leave no trace on it. Making a paper copy is a good back up," I replied as she put them on the bench.

As I opened the laptop to boot it up I had a stray thought about my own watchers typing away as they speculate on my decisions. Logging on I plugged the memory stick in and opened a new Notebook file.

We copied the details over and un-paused the program. I waited with bated breath, till she turned the page over. It was details of my location, even down to the floor and number of door down from the lift.

On the opposite page were the arrangements for where and when the agent was to pick up Dr. Quigley. After a few brief moments reading the information she leaned forward and picked up the phone.

She spoke to Jim's answering machine and left a message for him to contact her.

"Pause it," I said from over Sally's shoulder as she stopped speaking.

She tapped the key and arched back to look up at me.

"Now we go back and see where the envelope came from," I said.

"Can we take a break?" she asked. "Grab a bite to eat, even if it's only a chocolate bar from the vending machine."

"Yes," I replied, taking a glance at my wristwatch. "The building should be empty now; we could go to the Union and pick up my car as well."

"Yes," she agreed. "Let me log these coordinates first."

"Yep," I replied as she turned back to the screen.

The place was deserted, just us and the security cameras. The place was left open for the students but on a Friday afternoon, they were few and far between. The wind had turned to showers and we waited for a heavy burst to ease before racing across campus to the Union building.

We were both soaked by the time we got there. We weren't dripping but there was wetness down my back and the front of my trousers was sticking to my thighs. I shook my head to fling the droplets from my hair, causing Sally to giggle as she brushed hers.

We ordered burgers and American fries with large Cokes and took them to one of the tables at the back. I was still feeling uncomfortable in my damp clothes despite shucking my jacket and hanging it on the back of my chair.

We talked about what we'd learned so far and speculated what we would find when we traced the file back. What interested me most was finding out what had happened to bring them back to my door, I wondered if it was my orders for another hundred Tunnels.

When we had eaten, we made our way to the car park then drove back to the lab. Sally suggested stopping by at her room to dry off. The image of us 'rubbing each other dry' was inviting, but finding out what was happening was, for the moment, more important.

It was still deserted and eerily quiet as we made our way back down to the lab. I used my master key to let us back in then waited as Sally rebooted. She took us back to the office and then backtracked to when the messenger arrived.

Following him in reverse was weird, drawing his earphones from inside his jacket and un-tug them from his ears almost made me laugh. Even more ridiculous was watching him perform the little dance steps as he walked backwards.

There was no name on the door, just a little plaque that read 'C12'. We followed him through and saw him receive the letter from a secretary in the outer office. Sally took us through into the inner office to find a somewhat corpulent man sitting behind a large desk.

"Wait," I interrupted as she started to manoeuvre behind him. "If we jump back an hour we might find him working on the file."

"Okay," she acknowledged, finger playing over the keyboard.

The scene flickered and now showed him drinking his cuppa with several files open on his desk. Sally took us around the back of him to give us an overview of his desk. The first thing that caught my eye was the email on the screen.

The 'to' line had wsmythebrown. The 'from' line was a jumble of letters XP13MESINT with a dot gov address. The letter opened with 'C12INT'. The rest of it was a summary of surveillance on a corner shop owner.

"There!" exclaimed Sally, zooming in on one of the files.

The file she focused on had 'Eyes Only' emblazoned in red across the top of the page with 'Operation Purple Haze' below it. The page was a scan of a handwritten letter. It was in the chatty style of two people who knew each other well.

'Wil,' the letter started. 'I have something that might interest you. I've had reports that the Astronomy Department at The Home Counties University is using a wormhole device developed in the Physics Department that allows them to short circuit space. It has a lower range of about two hundred miles and can supposedly see through walls. Its inventor is Professor Steven Lutner. You should send one of your egg heads down to look over his research.

I'd be grateful if you could keep me in the loop on this.

Henry.'

At the bottom was a scrawled note: 'Preliminary investigation confirms the report.' With the initials 'M.V.'

I wanted to know what was on the hidden pages. "Pause again Sal; let's skip back to where he deals with the file."

"Yeh sure," she replied, her fingers playing over the keys.

She jumped back to eight 'o' clock and an empty office, we jumped forward again twice, once to eight fifteen then to nine to find him strolling in. His secretary followed on bringing in a tray with a pot of tea.

We jumped another fifteen minutes and found him reading the news on the BBC website. We skipped another fifteen and found him reading a file; at the top of the page were the initials 'UKEO' and the file name 'California Sunshine'.

Before I could suggest it, Sally jumped another five minutes. We caught him adding some notes to the bottom of a page then dropping it off in the pending tray before retrieving the next from the one marked 'IN'.

This one had the title 'Orange Sunrise' and Sally skipped again. We passed on 'White Lightning' and found we were fourth time lucky as he picked up 'Purple Haze'. He flicked through the first few pages and turned to the back one.

It was a memo from the head of department PQ13; it nominated a Dr. P Quigley as the best person to look into the matter. He picked up his pen and wrote 'Organise GS1 to accompany a Dr Quigley first thing, details inside'.

With that, he put it into his pending tray and moved onto the last file.

Sally hit the pause button again. "Well that was hardly worth the effort," she remarked.

"Oh, I don't know we've got quite a few names and faces. We've got one or two department names to look into. Besides all that was weeks ago, if we jump up to this morning we can see if he's involved in sending out this latest pair," I replied.

"In that case you can take over," she said as she stood. "I need a toilet break."

"Oh," I said, dipping my hand into my pocket. "Can you get more coffees while you're at it?"

"Yes," she replied as I handed her my loose change.

I took the seat and reset the temporal coordinates to nine thirty this morning. As I expected I found him reading the news. As I let it run on, waiting for Sally, I had to smile at the thought of my watchers watching me watching him.

After a short while, the secretary buzzed him on the intercom.

"The mornings files have arrived," she said pleasantly when he pressed the button.

Within seconds, the door opened and the secretary walked across to place a stack of files into the in-tray before gathering up the tea things and taking them with her.

"Thank you Ann," he said as she reached the door.

The first file he pulled forward was a very much thicker Purple Haze. It was also flagged with a red marker. Reflexively I paused the program as he started to open it from the back. I was sorely tempted to resume as I waited for Sally to return.

I thought about my watchers, many of them would have the full script in front of them and know what was in there and what my response to it would be. From there I followed an idle thought into whether my future was predetermined by their knowledge.

It took me only a few seconds to theorise that the reverse was true and that who was watching me was dependant on the choices I made. If the state won then there might be some top officials, the free for all would only happen if I were victorious.

My thoughts had strayed to production and siting of the Tunnels by the time Sally returned with the drinks, the sooner we got some out into the public's hands the happier I would be.

"Ah, I wondered if you'd wait," she said as she crossed over.

"Yes well, I didn't want to sit through it twice."

She handed me my drink as she sat next to me. "Well come on, I'm here now," she said in mock admonishment.

I smiled back and leaned forward to hit the key. The picture sprang back into life as he flicked through a couple of pages to the front of a report from Dr. Quigley. His cover note was blunt and remarkable for its economy of words.